MAY 15: A SOLDIER who deserted the Iraqi army has been fined by Swindon magistrates after he was caught stealing alcohol from a town centre store.

Farouk Ali was drunk when he was caught taking three cans of lager from Marks and Spencer, the court was told.

The 25-year-old had managed to escape from the clutches of Saddam Hussein's forces in November last year, months before the latest Gulf War.

Ali was in the Fedayeen, part of the special forces protecting the capital Baghdad, before he left the Middle East for Britain.

Magistrates were told that alcohol was secretly available in Iraq before he fled and that he started drinking more recently as he was worried about his parents, who are still in the oil town of Kirkuk.

Marion Langford, prosecuting, said on April 11 a security guard was watching CCTV at the town centre store when he spotted Ali and another man in the alcohol section.

He followed the men as they left without paying for drink they had taken. He caught up with them on Havelock Square and grabbed the other man. Ali managed to run away.

However, he was spotted three days later in Sainsbury's in the Brunel Plaza and was confronted by the security guard.

Police discovered Ali could not speak English. Through a translator, he told police he was drunk when he took the lager and that he knew what he had done was wrong and greatly regretted doing it.

Ali, of Victoria Road, pleaded guilty to the theft.

Stephen Weighell, defending, said: "He was in the army until November 14 last year. He escaped because he was sure he would have been killed.

"He said if he went back he would have been killed as a deserter. He still has difficulties now because he had to be a member of the Ba'ath party and they would seek revenge.

"He said he drinks more because he is worried about his parents who live in Kirkuk, the oil city."

He said Ali was starting to study English at college and received £38 a week state benefits. He lives in a Home Office apartment.

Magistrates fined Ali £50 and ordered him to pay £55 towards the costs of the case at £10 a week.